Franklin Templeton filed for two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that would route stock dividends into bitcoin (BTC), a structure that repurposes one of Wall Street's most established income-reinvestment mechanisms to accumulate the cryptocurrency.
Franklin Templeton Files for ETFs that Reinvest Stock Dividends in Bitcoin
22 June 2026 - 03:43 CEST
In an 18 June amendment to its Form N-1A registration with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the firm, which managed $1.78tn at the end of May, registered the Franklin US Equity Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF and the Franklin US Innovation Bitcoin DRIP Index ETF. Both target an effective date of 1 Sept, subject to SEC approval.
DRIP stands for Dividend Reinvestment Plan, a long-standing practice of using cash dividends paid by stocks or ETFs to buy more of the same security. Franklin's version sends that flow into bitcoin instead.
Bitcoin from corporate dividends
Each fund starts at 95% US equities and 5% bitcoin exposure, with bitcoin capped at 20% between quarterly rebalances. Regular and special dividends are reinvested into bitcoin at market open the day after each ex-dividend date.
The larger fund tracks the VettaFi US Large-Cap 500 Bitcoin DRIP Index, which is drawn from the 500 largest US companies, their common stocks and real estate investment trusts (REITs). The smaller fund tracks a VettaFi index of 100 US firms tied to innovation and technology themes.
Bloomberg Intelligence's James Seyffart counted more than 100 crypto ETF filings in the pipeline at the end of 2025, with issuers "throwing a lot of product at the wall."
Franklin's broader crypto push
San Mateo, California-based Franklin Templeton already runs three crypto ETFs and in April announced a dedicated Franklin Crypto division through its agreement to buy CoinFund spinoff 250 Digital, a deal expected to close in the second quarter.
